Chapter 97: #NINETY- SEVEN

NICHOLAS’S POV

Two days later, I woke up early and left my room before anyone else could start checking on me.

I wasn’t trying to sneak away or anything like that, I just needed to stretch or something.

The penthouse was quiet when I came downstairs, so I walked toward the entrance and sat there with my phone.

I opened my school group chats and immediately saw that people had been talking about Jayden and me. Apparently, neither of us had been seen at school, and nobody had any real explanation for it.

Some students were asking whether Jayden had transferred, others were saying he had probably gotten suspended like I did, while a few were creating completely ridiculous stories about where we could have gone. Someone had even asked whether anyone had heard from me because I had disappeared around the same time.

I kept scrolling through the messages, reading the different theories until I eventually locked my phone and placed it beside me. There was nothing I could say to any of them.

I was still sitting there when someone came up behind me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I recognized Elijah immediately as he leaned over the back of the chair and looked at my phone before I could hide it.

"You’re seriously sitting here alone, and everyone upstairs has been wondering where you disappeared to," Elijah said, resting his arm comfortably around me before glancing toward the entrance. "I came down because I was supposed to find out whether you were awake, and instead I find you sitting here reading school gossip before breakfast. Come inside and eat something because Roman has already complained that breakfast is getting cold."

"I wasn’t hiding from anyone," I replied, putting my phone away as I stood. "I woke up early and wanted to sit somewhere quiet for a while. I checked the school groups because I hadn’t looked at them in days, and apparently everyone has already noticed that Jayden and I aren’t around."

Elijah’s expression became more serious for a moment, but he didn’t press me about it." So? Just leave them to their theories. They’ll eventually get bored and find something else to talk about. Besides, if you stay out here much longer, Roman is going to come looking for you himself."

I laughed as we walked inside. "He really would."

"He already did," Elijah said, laughing as well. "He told me that if I found you, I should physically drag you downstairs if necessary. I told him I wasn’t doing that because I wasn’t interested in getting blamed when you punched me."

"I wouldn’t punch you." I gasped.

"You say that now." He laughed.

When we reached the dining room, the others were already eating. Roman looked up as soon as we walked in, and his eyes immediately went to me before moving toward Elijah.

"Finally," Roman said, putting his fork down as he leaned back in his chair. "I was beginning to think Elijah had gone upstairs and gotten distracted talking to you. We’ve been sitting here long enough. Cassian could have downed his breakfast twice in that time."

Cassian looked at him from across the table and shook his head. "That’s not even remotely true."

Roman ignored him and looked at me instead. "Sit down before he starts exaggerating again. There’s food here, and you need to eat something."

I sat beside Elijah and pulled the plate toward me. "I’m hungry."

"Good," Roman said, picking up his fork again. "Then eat as much as you want."

The meal went normally for a while with casual talk when Elijah suddenly leaned back in his chair with a strange expression on his face, as though he’d just thought of something.

"I’ve decided that we’re not spending another entire day sitting around doing absolutely nothing," Elijah announced, tapping his fingers against the table as he looked around at everyone. "Since none of you are remotely entertaining, I’m going to handle the entertainment myself. I’m going to set everything up in the sitting room and sing for all of you."

Roman stopped eating and he stared at Elijah for several seconds before slowly lowering his fork. "You are going to sing?"

"Yes," Elijah replied confidently, leaning back in his chair. "And before you start laughing, I actually know what I’m doing. I’ve been singing for years."

Cassian chuckled. "Nobody is saying you can’t sing. We’re questioning why you’ve suddenly decided to turn the sitting room into a concert venue when none of us asked for one."

Elijah pointed at him with a grin. "That’s exactly why I’m doing it. You’ve all inwardly doubted my abilities, so now I’m going to give you an actual performance. Then you’ll have to admit that you were wrong."

Roman leaned toward me and lowered his voice dramatically, although everyone could still hear him. "He’s been waiting for this moment his entire life."

I laughed and Elijah turned toward me immediately. "Don’t encourage him."

"I’m not," I replied, trying not to laugh again. "I just want to hear you sing now."

"Thank you," Elijah said, looking pleased. "At least somebody in this family has faith in me."

Adrian finally looked up from his phone. "I’m not sure faith is the word I’d use."

Elijah stared at him and Adrian calmly returned to his phone.

I covered my mouth, laughing.

"Fine," Elijah said, standing from the table. "All of you can laugh now. In twenty minutes, you’ll be apologizing."

Roman pointed his fork toward him. "If you actually manage to impress us, I’ll admit that I was wrong. But if you’re terrible, I’m recording it and I’m gonna embarrass you with it for the rest of your life."

After breakfast, Elijah disappeared upstairs and returned carrying equipment he had apparently kept stored away.

He set everything up in the sitting room while the rest of us watched, and Roman continued making comments every few minutes until Elijah finally threatened to remove him from the audience.

I sat on the couch while Cassian helped move one of the speakers into position.

"Why do you actually have all this?" I asked Elijah as he adjusted the microphone.

He looked over his shoulder. "Because I like music. I just don’t usually bring everything downstairs because I know these idiots would turn it into a competition within five minutes."

Once everything was ready, Elijah took the microphone and stood in the middle of the room. He looked around at everyone before shaking his head.

"I want all of you to listen properly before you start talking," he said, adjusting the microphone in his hand. "I don’t care if you don’t like the song, but at least give me enough respect to finish it before you start throwing things at me. Roman, that specifically applies to you because I know you’re already thinking about it."

Roman lifted both hands innocently. "I haven’t touched anything."

Elijah started the music, then he began singing.

Oh? He was actually good.

I looked at Roman, and his expression had changed completely.

Cassian was also watching Elijah with a small smile, while Adrian had finally put his phone aside.

Elijah finished the first part of the song and looked toward us, clearly waiting for the reaction.

Roman slowly nodded. "Okay," he admitted, leaning back against the couch. "I didn’t expect that."

Elijah immediately smiled. "What’s that? I didn’t hear you over the sound of my success."

"Don’t get excited. I said I didn’t expect it." He corrected. "Yeah, I underestimated you. And now I’ve changed my opinion. What’s wrong with that?"

Elijah turned toward me. "Nicholas, at least you understood that I could sing."

"I wasn’t sure," I admitted, laughing. "But you’re actually good."

Elijah placed a hand against his chest. "Finally. Someone appreciates me."

Roman groaned. "Don’t start acting like you’re famous now."

He started another song, and this time I joined him with the second microphone. We kept missing parts because we were laughing.

Elijah handed me the microphone after a while. "Your turn."

I shook my head, then after a second, I laughed and took the microphone.

We continued singing together, switching between songs and arguing over which ones to play next.

At some point, I dropped the microphone onto the couch and started dancing.

Roman looked at me, laughed and stood up. "What are you doing?"

"I’m dancing. You can either join me or keep sitting there."

He walked over and started dancing beside me, his hands wrapping around my waist.

"Hm?" He drawled, dropping his head to my neck, his breath brushing against my skin. "Well, I’m here. And you look gorgeous."

My breath hitched.

He pulled away with a sincere look in his eyes. "And I love you. So much that I don’t know what to do with it."